Rishi Sunak to make an announcement on jobs support next week, says PM
Chancellor Rishi Sunak will make an announcement on the government’s coronavirus jobs support schemes next week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today.
“You’ll be hearing more about what we’re going to do to support people next week from the chancellor Rishi Sunak,” he told LBC in response to a question about what would happen once the furlough scheme ends.
The government’s coronavirus jobs retention scheme is due to begin tapering off in August, before coming to an end at the end of October.
Economists and business leaders have raised concerns about a sharp spike in unemployment after the scheme, which is currently supporting 9.3m furloughed workers, is wrapped up.
The government has pledged to “build, build, build” its way out of the economic crisis caused by Covid-19, with Sunak due to make a statement next week on new government plans as existing support measures come to an end.
The chancellor is expected to place jobs at the heart of the update, and has warned Conservative MPs not to expect big tax cuts to boost the economy, the Financial Times reported.
Johnson yesterday disappointed business leaders by confirming that the job retention scheme would be phased out by October, saying that furloughed workers were being kept in “suspended animation”.
Issuing a “very, very blunt” warning in an interview with the Evening Standard, the prime minister said it was time to tell Brits that staying at home is “not, in the long-term, healthy either for the economy or for you”.
The UK GDP is expected to shrink by an enormous 10.2 per cent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The chief economist of the Bank of England warned this week that it could shrink by eight per cent.